I grabbed my mp3 player from the nighstand and inserted the disc Jacob had given me.
I pressed play. I bent down a little to see how long the song was.
10:43
I then placed the small marshmallow headphones into my ears. But at first, there wasn't any sound. I looked at it, puzzled, but then I heard a distant piano key play. Then I heard more piano keys. I turned the volume on a little higher. Jacob had constructed his own symphony for me. I smiled, swaying my head to the soft sound of piano keys, harmonizing in a beautiful beat. After the most precious ten minutes of my life was over, I went to bed smiling and dreaming about Jacob's beautiful piece.
~
I heard the sounds of small pebbles hit my window at 10:43 am, the next morning. I flinched, blinking a couple of times, and then arose from my bed. Three more pebbled hit my window. I slowly opened the window and to my suprise, it was Jacob who was throwing the pebbles.
"Ugh, on a Saturday Jacob?" I yelped.
"Yup, c'mon down and let's take a walk" he hollered.
"Go through the front door and I'll be down there in a sec" I said. I then closed the window shut and ran into the bathroom to brush my teeth and fix my hair. I grabbed a pair of jeans and a shirt, then, I ran down the stairs.
"Mornin' Kristen. You have a guest" said dad.
Dad was the only one who took care of me for the past 16 years. My mother died during labor, and since I was an only child, dad became close to me ever since. He wouldn't let me go out anywhere unless it was a person that he could trust with my life, and Jacob was one of them.
"--oh, hey Jacob, what are you doing down here so early?" I smiled. I quickly analyzed Jacob. His short black hair, tan skin, brown almond-colored eyes, and his beautiful smile which showed small pearly white vampire teeth.
"Well--if it's alright with you, Rob, I'd like to take Claire to my place. I'd like to show her something" he lied. My dad would never let me walk alone with a boy. And plus, Jacob only lived 3 blocks down.
"Sure, Jacob. But Claire, don't forget about your curfew, 9pm"
"Yeah dad, it's just morning. It's not like I'm going to be out ALL day" I said. I hugged him and then ran out the door with Jacob. The weather felt moist. It was foggy, the trees were swaying wildly, and the gravel was sticking to my shoes. Just then I slipped on a damp piece of cardboard.
"God, fuc--"
"--need a hand?" Jacob chuckled.
"What's so funny?" I snickerd. As soon as he held onto my left hand I pulled him down on the ground.
"--ouch!" he yelped. I started laughing and then we ended up play-fighting on the ground.
As soon as we finished I asked him, "Why did you bring me out here, Jacob?"
"Well, Claire, there's something that I've always been willing to ask you..." he stood up.
"So spit it out Jacob" I smiled and stood up also.
He cleared his throat. "Do you love me?" As soon as he muttered those four words I felt as there was a huge lump in my throat.
"I'm sorry Jacob... I just want to be friends... and nothing more..." I muttered. I crossed my arms and when I had glanced up at him I saw small tears forming in his eyes.
"Well, just for you to know... I'll always love you"
"Just friends, Jacob..." I reminded him. But, instead, he pulled my towards his direction and started kissing me. The strangest part was that I was kissing him back. And that's when it hit me...
I was in love with Jacob.
As soon as I placed my hands around his neck, he placed his hands on top of mines, making me release.
"We're just friends" he whispered in my ear.
~~
I went to bed around 10:43 pm, wishing that I could've told Jacob that I did have the same feelings towards him. Tomorrow morning I was going to run to his house, knock on his door, and tell him 'I love you, you bastard" and kiss him like never before.
~~~
I woke up to my dad slowly nudging me on my hip.
"Claire..." he whispered. I blinked a couple of times and then fully opened my eyes.
"Dad...? Dad! What time is it? I have to go meet up with Jacob!" I pulled the sheets off of my body and stood up.
"Sweetie, sit back down... There's something that I have to say..." he wiped a tear from his blood shot eyes.
"Dad... are you okay?" I muttered.
"No, I'm not honey. It's about Jacob..."
For a second I felt as if my heart stopped beating. My vision of dad became blurry because of the tears forming in my eyes.
"What happened dad?" I asked through clenching my teeth.
"I got a call this morning, around 10:50, from Jacob's father..."
"Yes... Mr. Taylor"
"--right... and he called... because it was about Jacob"
"--and what exactly happened to Jacob?" I asked. Tears were rolling down my cheeks by now.
"Sweetie, he went to wake up Jacob..."
My eyes widened.
"--and he never woke up..." he started crying, and so did I. I punched the bed as hard as I could and ran out the door. I knew dad wouldn't bother catching up with me, he knew I had to do this.
I ran to Jacob's house with a tight blouse and sweats on. I ran barefoot on the sharp hard gravel. I could feel the anger rushing up towards my cheeks and the adrenaline running through my veins. When I finally reached his house, I banged on his door. His father appeared.
"Is it true...?" I mumbled.
Jacob's father's eyes were red also. He slowly nodded his head and started weeping.
"He left a note for you..."
I became paralyzed for a second.
He then took out a small sheet of paper from his side pocket. It looked as if it were ripped out from a notebook.
It read,
'Claire...
By the time you read this I'll be in a better place by now... And the only reason I did this was because of you... You were my life.
And I fell completely in love with you.
But when you said you just wanted to be friends, I felt so rejected. So I decided to take an over-dose of drugs.
I'm so sorry dad.
And I'm sorry Claire.
But we're just friends...

- Jacob.'

I never thought I was going to stop crying.
I held the note to my heart and whispered, "I do love you Jacob... I just hadn't realized it earlier..."
HIs father forced a smile and patted my head.
"Mr. Taylor... what time did he pass?"
"It says it on the paper..." he pointed.
I glanced at the bottom of the paper. Written in his blood, it read:
10:43.